Federal govt urges gas players to work together

In an address by Federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson to a conference on Friday, the government again rejected gas reservation schemes as a way of helping guarantee supplies for local users.
Photo: Glenn Hunt

The federal government has called on natural gas producers and buyers to work cooperatively to ensure adequate gas supplies are available in the eastern states to meet rising demand.

In an address by Federal Resources and Energy Minister
Martin Ferguson
to a conference on Friday, the government again rejected gas reservation schemes as a way of helping guarantee supplies for local users.

The address to the Energy State of the Nation conference in Sydney was given by Martin Hoffman, deputy secretary of the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, as the minister was detained in Canberra on parliamentary business.

Mr Ferguson, in his speech, said the required investment in gas supply was “massive" and that a gas reservation scheme would only deter that investment.

“Australia has plenty of gas in the ground but it needs to be available in the market," the minister said, through Mr Hoffman.

Industrial users of gas in Queensland and NSW have increasingly complained about a lack of competitive long term gas supplies from producers past 2015, when liquefied natural gas export plants worth about $60 billion are starting to ramp up production in Gladstone.

But Mr Ferguson said recent announcements of gas supply contracts seemed to confirm gas was still available for local industry.